lost In Your Arms (L X Light)

waka maka peeka pooka

No. No was the answer, it was obvious now on Roger's expression before he had even said it.

"I'm sorry Near..."here it comes.

"But the orphanage needs renovations, so you cannot stay here like last time" Near really didn't want to go on a year long 'field trip' to another country. Last time he managed to get Roger to let him stay.

Roger had quite many antique items in his office as well as a few new additions. His lamp sitting on his oak desk was at least fifteen years old. The walls had bookshelves filled with all kinds of books, mostly books about different languages. There was a single olive green rug on the floor right next to Mr. Ruvie's desk, it had to be over twenty-seven years old. Two grand windows evenly aligned on both sides of Roger's desk, making it the center of the room.

Roger wore a strained smile when Near looked up at him.

"Near, please go write your name beside a country on the chalkboard down the hall." This made Near sigh internally, he stood up and left Roger's office. There was no point in trying to find an option to stay.

There was nothing good about leaving the country for learning experiences and socialization. Just the thought of being forced to talk to strangers in another country made Near shiver. He dreaded the steps to the chalk board filled with countries.

Skimming through the names of countries then the people signed up for each one. There was at least one name per country, with only two countries with one name beside. The least amount of people that went, the better. Mello was not someone Near wanted to go to another country with; Mello's name was beside Russia. The only other country that had one person signed up for was Japan.

Yellow chalk and white chalk sat on the rim of the perfectly shaped wood right under the chalkboard. With his left hand Near touched the yellow horrid soft powdery stick. Near wrote his name right beside the name Linda. Setting down the chalk he wandered to his room.

It wasn't like Near wished to never socialize but he was extremely bad at it. The others interact and have detailed conversations, while he doesn't know how to start. It wasn't that Near was scared of social interaction nor did he have social anxiety. Not making connections seemed like the safest option. worrying about someone else's well being is more work than it's worth. sitting on the floor and solving a puzzle or playing with all sorts of toys was much more comforting than going out side and socializing with others.

The door creaked as Near pushed it open. The afternoon sun peaked through the windows. Nothing unusual, today was just like every other day before it.

A calender hung on the wall; it was a plain calendar. The months where only separated with colours. Today was February 28th, 2003, another lovely uneventful day. Near had till the 25th of March until his trip to Japan. He wasn't excited but, the earlier he leaves the earlier he can come back to England.

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T

he dinning hall was down a floor from Near's room. It was big enough that all thirty of the students in Wammy house could sit with at least six feet apart from each other. Near sat at the end of an isolated table that hadn't been invaded with people.

The evenings meal would be the same, if it wasn't for the presumably 'Linda' deciding to make contact with Near. She did occasionally ask him to go out side to hang out, but Near normally ignored her. Twirling his finger in his hair he continued to dig through his food as Linda approached him.

"Near, I saw that you were going to Japan with me. I wouldn't think you would want to go on a trip like this. It seems almost out of character for you to." Linda invaded Near's personal space when she sat right next to him. She she didn't even ask Near if she could sit there.